Clark straightened up on the couch, startled to hear Lex's voice.  Lex was supposed to be away for the day, some conference in Edge City, he'd said.  Yet, here he was, back early on a Saturday morning -- okay, at noon on Saturday, Clark revised -- catching Clark watching cartoons and eating Count Chocula.

"What are you doing back?" Clark asked, suddenly noticing that he hadn't gotten dressed or showered yet.  Unless his hair had decided to evolve the power of super-self-grooming, he was fairly certain that he was also sporting the kind of bedhead only people with curly hair can exhibit.

"It was a bust.  Lyle found out at the last minute that my father'd gotten word of our plans and basically blackballed LexCorp from the conference.  So much for our hopes and dreams of wooing the western cattle ranchers association."  Lex flopped down on the couch next to Clark and watched the television for a moment.  "Cartoons these days are so crappy."

Clark shifted over slightly to give Lex a bit more room.  "Was it better back when you went and saw them in the theatre every Sunday afternoon?  You know, using the shiny new nickel you got for your allowance?"

Lex made a face and prodded Clark in the leg.  "Out with it," he ordered.

Clark recalled that Lex had said this phrase before.  "I ate the last jelly donut," he confessed, spooning some more cereal into his mouth.

Lex laughed shortly.  "Not what I meant.  But good to know."

"Oh?  Well, then.  I didn't eat it.  It must have been the mice."  Clark stemmed Lex's lecture on rodent eating habits by diverting his attention.  "Out with what?"

Lex poked Clark's leg again.  "Who was she?"

Clark stared down at his leg, where Lex's errant finger was now slowly drifting over his thigh.  For a moment, all he could think was, 'Is Lex putting the moves on me?'  Then he noticed that Lex's finger wasn't so much idly stroking as it was outlining the design on his pyjama pants.  "Pepe le Pew?  He's a skunk.  A really horny boy skunk."

Lex smirked.  "Thanks, but I'm familiar with Monsieur le Pew.  I was referring to the girl who gave these to you."

Clark blinked twice.  "My mom?"

Lex shook his head, as though saddened by Clark's stupidity.  "Your mom gave you red Joe Boxer pyjama pants with pink hearts and eroticized skunks all over them?"

Clark felt his face grow hot.  Lex was really too perceptive for his own good.  "Not my mom," he conceded.

"So?" Lex prompted, withdrawing his hand.

"My girlfriend."  Clark bit off the word savagely, reminding himself that he wasn't ever going to talk about this with Lex.

"Clark, are you cheating on me?" Lex asked, still playful.

"We broke up."

Lex nodded coolly, as if this was exactly what he had expected.  Clark was really beginning to wonder if Lex could really divine so much about a person or if he was just averse to showing surprise. 

"Recently, I take it?" Lex said.  When Clark looked askance, he explained, "I thought you'd probably just come out of a bad long term relationship, to want to jump into this situation with me.  Probably your first love.  When that ends, it feels like you can't imagine dating ever again.  And you guys were long-term, judging from the pyjamas.  I mean, it's the sort of thing a girl only gives a guy when they're sleeping together, and good small town boys like yourself probably have to wait a year or more before your girlfriend will put out."

Clark flushed more deeply, partly from irritation and partly from embarrassment that he was so easily understood.  He seized on Lex's one miscalculation.  "It wasn't recently.  We broke up a year ago."

Lex wasn't averse to showing suprise, apparently, because his eyebrows shot up at this divulgence.  "A year?"

Clark nodded, waiting for the inevitable lump to rise in his throat with the thought of Chloe.  It didn't come.  He felt strangely detached.

"Ouch.  Bad break-up?"

Clark nodded again.

"She dump you?"  The words were flippant but the tone was sympathetic.

"I didn't trust her when I should have," Clark said, simply.  He left off the part where he'd spent three years falling more and more in love, lying the whole time.  Also, the part where she'd known all along.  When she'd finally seen for herself, by accident one time, Clark had immediately pleaded for her silence, her discretion.  And that was the first time Chloe had looked at him with that hurt, that hatred.